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BRUSSELS — The European Parliament demanded Thursday that the French immediately suspend the expulsion of Gypsies, but France’s immigration minister dismissed the resolution as “a political measure” and insisted the practice would continue.
The EU Parliament resolution — a rare criticism of an EU nation — was backed by 337 lawmakers meeting in Strasbourg, France, with 245 opposed and 51 abstentions.
France has stepped up its long-standing policy of rounding up Eastern European Gypsies, or Roma, and sending them home. Officials have dismantled more than 100 illegal camps and expelled more than 1,000 Roma, mostly to Romania and Bulgaria.
